Lewis Haldane
Lewis Haldane is a former Welsh Under-21 international who played primarily on the left of midfield, although he was also used on the right and as a striker. He began his career as a trainee with Southampton, but moved into the Rovers youth set-up. He was a fringe player for his first years with the Pirates, but during the 2006-07 season he firmly established himself in the starting eleven, eventually going on to make nearly 150 league appearances for The Pirates. He had loan spells with Weston-super-Mare and Forest Green Rovers early in his career, and later on, after he had fallen somewhat out of favour at the club, had temporary spells at Oxford United and Port Vale (twice). He eventually joined The Valiants on a permanent deal in January 2010. Career Lewis was with Bristol Rovers for the majority of his professional career, but also had loan spells at Forest Green Rovers in 2004-05 and 2005-06 and one at Weston-super-Mare in 2002-03. He was sent out on loan to Oxford United for the duration of the 2008-09 season, following the arrival of Jeff Hughes on the left of midfield at Rovers, where he linked up with former Rovers teammate Chris Carruthers. During his spell at Oxford he was called up to the England C squad for a match against Malta Under-21s, but he was dropped after the FA realised that he had played for Wales Under-21s, making him ineligible. The FA cited an administrative error for the confusion. Early in the 2009-10 season Rovers agreed at loan move with Newport County for Lewis, which was to be an initial one-month deal with a view to extending it further, but the player rejected the move. His patience was rewarded when Port Vale came in to offer him a three month loan deal, which began on 1 September 2009, and he went on to make 14 league appearances for the Valiants without scoring. At the end of December 2009 Haldane returned to Port Vale for a second loan spell with the Staffordshire club having wanted a permanent deal, but was unable to negotiate an early release from his Rovers contract. It took only four more weeks for that release to be negotiated however, and he signed permanently for Vale on 27 January 2010. His preparations for the 2010–11 season took a bizarre setback when the effects of an insect bite suffered during a training session left him hospitalised for two weeks, and kept him out of the Valiants' team until November, but he quickly established himself back into the lineup and made 27 league and cup appearances by the end of the campaign. He was again unlucky at the start of the following season, when he suffered a double fracture of the leg in a Johnstone's Paint Trophy match against Tranmere Rovers at the end of August, an injury that kept him out of the first team for the remainder of the season. After more than a year of rehabilitation and attempted comebacks he was finally forced to retire from the game in October 2012. Career stats Record against Rovers Lewis never played against Bristol Rovers in a competitive first team fixture. Category:Players Category:Forwards Category:Midfielders Category:13 March Category:Players born in 1985 Category:Players who joined in 2002 Category:Weston-super-Mare Category:Forest Green Rovers Category:Oxford United Category:Port Vale Category:100+ league appearances Category:50+ league appearances